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Thaw (white Murder) Trials
By Yewande Decker
In 1906, America had gotten a taste of their first “Crime of the Century” murder trial. This love triangle was the first case that left thousands of New Yorkers stunned and flabbergasted, that how such a murder can occur in broad daylight.
Born to an ambitious family, and an heir to a vast fortune in Pittsburg Pennsylvania, Harry K. Thaw was well educated young man, but known to be a very peculiar as well. Thaw was sent from private school to private school, because of his behavior. He never did well in school and he was known as a trouble maker. His family knew of his troubles and tried to help him. Later on he was accepted to the University of Pittsburgh, where he was to study law. He rarely did any studying and after a few years he used his name and social status to transfer to Harvard University. Thaw was later expelled after being picked up for chasing a cab driver through the streets with a shotgun, which he claimed it was unloaded. Thaw spent most of his time going on drinking binges, using drugs, attended cockfights, and romancing young women. One young woman that caught his attention was young women by the name of Evelyn Nesbit. He fell in love with her when he moved to New York, at a Broadway show she performed in called Florodora.
Evelyn Nesbit was a 16 year old actress, and aspiring model that was in a courtship with Stanford White, New York City’s most famous architect. Standford, years older than she was claimed Evelyn by taking her virginity in a form of rape, and stating that she only belongs to him. White had wooed Nesbit’s mother with money and status that she was blindsided by how White used her daughter as he pleased. Harry Thaw was love stricken by this young woman. He attended all her performances, and sent her flowers. Flattered, but Nesbit never took it any further until one day when Mr. white had left town for a business trip and Nesbit was hospitalized with presumed appendicitis, and Thaw knowing this, visited Nesbit with gifts. Thaw managing to impress both Nesbit’s mother and the headmistress at the boarding school she attended. Later, under Stanford White’s orders, she was moved to a sanatorium in upstate New York, where both White and Thaw visited her often, though never at the same time.
After her release from the sanatorium, Thaw invited her and her mother to visit Paris with him. In Europe, Thaw spent vast amount of money on Evelyn and her mother, and eventually proposed marriage to Evelyn, but she denied him. Thaw, however, did not give up and for several weeks continued to press Evelyn for her hand. Finally, under duress, Evelyn admitted to Thaw that Stanford White had indeed taken her virginity, and she claimed that she was unworthy to be Thaw’s wife. This enraged Thaw, but did not stop him from wanting Evelyn’s hand in marriage. He later sent Evelyn’s mother back to New York and took Evelyn to an isolated German castle, where he forced himself on Evelyn and beat her repeatedly. Evelyn however stayed with Thaw, and eventually convincing him to let her return to New York. Over the course of several years he managed to wear her down, and they soon got married. Harry and Evelyn went back to New York after some time. Thaw and Evelyn, accompanied by two friends, attended the opening of a play at the dining theater on the rooftop of Madison Square Gardens. Soon after taking their seats, she and Thaw noticed Stanford White being ushered to a table in the privileged section in the theater. Evelyn suggested that they leave, and they began heading towards the elevator. As Evelyn conversed briefly with a friend, Harry slipped away. As a line of chorus girls sang the audience heard a burst of gunfire, followed quickly by two more shots. Evelyn knew immediately that Thaw shot White. Harry Thaw shouted to the audience that he shot him because he ruined his wife and he had it coming to him. White had been shot twice in the head and once in the shoulder. Even though White was shot, the shows manager jumped on a table and commanded that the show must go on.
On the day after the murder, a crowd gathers below the Bridge of Sighs, connecting Tombs prison and the courthouse. The prosecutor for the case was District Attorney William T. Jerome, and Thaw’s defense attorney was, at first John B. Gleason, then later thaw fired him and hired Delphin Delmas as his attorney. There were two trials, the first lasting from January to April 1907 and the second in January 1908. In the first case the jury was deadlocked. Thaw planned that he would plead insanity in order to not spend time in jail and go away free. The second trial Thaw pled insanity, and Thaw’s mother told Evelyn that if she would testify that Stanford White abused her and that Harry only tried to protect her, she’d receive a divorce from Harry Thaw and one million dollars in compensation. She did just that, and he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Evelyn got the divorce, but not the money. Thaw was incarcerated at the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Fishkill, New York, enjoying nearly complete freedom. Thaw later was released and died of a heart attack in 1947 at the age of 76.
I believe that if this situation was to occur today, Thaw would not have gotten the insanity plea, but first degree murder. He intentionally shot an unarmed man, in front of thousands of people, and admitted that he had killed him. The district attorney would not have wanted him to get the insanity plea in order to save the city some money. Modern technology would have been needed in this case, because the defendant confessed that he did the crime. I believe that modern jury would not feel sorry for the defendant, and actually see that he was a sick man that committed an act of murder and had no regrets.
